Monday, September 22, 2008

Kai is mom-to-be Jennifer's first little one that will be arriving next month! This afternoon, work had a baby shower for her and her husband, Jay.

Awesome organizer and auntie-to-be Judy had a great spread that included a cake. I brought along some small bites. (Baby showers should have miniature food, no?)

This was my first time making tartlets! I used the crust recipe (miniature tartlet pastry) from Sweet Miniatures by Flo Braker (page 205). It's a simple recipe and doesn't require chilling. The first time, I didn't use enough dough and the edges came out a bit weak. The next time, they came out looking like, get this, real tart shells! I was shocked that it all worked out!! ;)

For the fresh fruit tart, I used the Barefoot Contessa's pastry cream recipe (online here). This was easy to make and tasted yummy! I used vanilla paste so it has small black vanilla bean flecks. I glazed the fruit with a diluted apricot preserve.

For the lemon meringue tart, I made a 1/2 recipe of Martha Stewart's lemon curd. Then, I made her swiss meringue and piped it onto the tartlets. The best part of my morning came when I got to torch the meringue at 6 am while listening to the morning news. Suddenly, the traffic jam caused by the jack-knifed truck just isn't so bad when you see pure white meringue turn golden in a millisecond! It's too cool.

Oh, that is a party I wish I had attended - your food looks amazing!And I have Flo's book but haven't made anything from it yet (I'm always out of some ingredient). The pastry would be a wonderful way to start!

Love the photos...looks like you've mastered your macro lense! Questions: Are the tiny tarts easy to remove from the tiny tart pans (do they have tiny removable bottoms)? Did you but them at Surfas? Thanks for the info.

Leah, I bought the tins from Sur la Table. They are the middle size (I believe they have three sizes). I tried to match them to my Whole Foods tartlet (I carried it with me into the store!). They come 24 to a pack and they were $10 a pack. I bought two and that was worth it. After baking, the tarts just slip out of the shell. Easy peasy - they shrink slightly and that makes them easy to remove! You should definitely try them!!! :) (I'm sure Surfas has them too.)

Tania,I got the pans at sur la table. They are the 1.75" tartlets. They are called: Round Tartlet Sets, Sets of 24, for $10.00. Here is a link: http://www.surlatable.com/product/round+tartlet+sets%2C+sets+of+24.do?search=basic&keyword=tart&sortby=gsa&asc=true&page=2